'Oz' trailer: New look at Sam Raimi's magical mystery tour

The newest trailer for Sam Raimi's upcoming "Oz: The Great and Powerful" has just debuted, promising viewers a journey down the yellow brick road that will include a breathtaking array of dazzling visual effects.

The Disney film stars James Franco as the man who will become the Wizard of Oz, and takes place well before Dorothy arrives in the faraway fantasy land somewhere over the rainbow. The clip opens in black-and-white, a homage to the 1939 classic, with Franco's Oscar Diggs wishing for greatness, just before he's blown into the eye of a storm that sends him into another world.

Rendered in beautifully vivid color, that land turns out to be a place that's been ravaged by a very wicked witch, though it's seemingly a more kindly sort Diggs encounters in Mila Kunis' Theodora. She brings him to meet her sister Evanora (Rachel Weisz) in the gleaming spires of Emerald City. There, Evanora offers Diggs a fortune in gold if he can take down the powerful villainess and save the enchanted realm. Along the way, he meets Michelle Williams' angelic Glinda, who believes he's the great wizard of Kansas who's come to set things right.

Diggs is accompanied on his quest by a talking monkey and a beautiful china doll, just two of the seemingly abundant digital creations that people the spring tent-pole release, due to hit theaters March 8.

It's clear that the studio is hoping for a repeat of the success it enjoyed with Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland," which opened in March 2010 and like "Oz" was produced by Joe Roth, and it will be interesting to see Raimi, with his first feature since 2009's "Drag Me to Hell," offer his take on the much beloved mythology created by L Frank Baum.

What do you think? Is this a magical journey in the offing? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.